10 Recipes for Halal Grub on Superbowl Sunday

If there’s one thing I’ll take on Superbowl Sunday, it’s the fun of planning and executing the game-day menu. I’m not a fan of football, though. I don’t really know the rules of the game, despite being a cheerleader (which was a long time ago) and attending countless Friday night games during high school. Realistically, most of us girls were not there for the game but to socialize and have fun with our friends in the small, quaint all-American town where I grew up.

Excuse the veer off topic, but the point is that the aura of a football game draws a lot of people together, mostly around some really good grub, which in this case is halal grub.

See for yourself my suggestions for some of the tastiest recipes I’ve made this year that will be great to serve on game day. Make them all and you’ve got a really good spread to serve a crowd. At the end I link to a past post with more recipes all summed up from previous years.

Click on the photos to get the recipes featured in this post.

1. Buffalo Wings with Creamy Feta Dip

What would game day be without an awesome Buffalo Wing recipe (plus the creamy dipping sauce)? I absolutely love this recipe. And what I love even more is that you can buy Crescent’s chicken wings which come ready for you to make the full wing or cut in half like the picture shown. I guarantee you, this was not possible just a few short years ago before Crescent made these so widely available in our Chicago stores. I hope you can find them near you, too.

2. Five Layer Bean Dip is one of the most popular dishes I’ve ever created. For people who are turned off by the words “bean” and “dip” (especially in the same sentence), they are always surprised at how much flavor this recipe has. Well, that’s what happens when you use fresh ingredients! It’s the perfect party food.

3. Homemade Tortilla Chips– and make these yourself to go with the dip and any other dips you make for the day. So, so easy.

4.Caribbean Shrimp Salad- you may not think of seafood as something to enjoy on game day, but I’m telling you this is different. Even guys love it–and realistically you have to have some guy grub at a Superbowl party, so this dish is good for that. It’s hearty and filling yet light enough to still have the other foods in this spread. Plus, you’ll have a lot of similar ingredients from the Five Layer Bean Dip if you make that, too.

5. Cheesy Jalapeno Burgers. Oh. my. yum. All the flavor is on the inside of these burger so you don’t need much on the outside except some halal cheese to top and you’re good to go. I might argue that you don’t need the bun, but then again some Superbowl fans around here might really not be too happy with that. Do try adding some sliced avocado on top, though.

6. Acorn Squash Hummus. Okay, this might be a little fancy for a game day dish, but what about all the ladies in the house? I want something a little pretty to eat, too and this is so good the guys won’t even notice how healthy it is. Let them ask what’s in it afterwards. (Substitute butternut squash for the acorn or just make a regular hummus if you like instead).

7.Baked Pita Chips. So quick and easy you can’t not make these. Plus, you need them to scoop up some of the dips on the table that don’t go so well with tortilla chips.

8. Creamy Spinach Dipis one of my favorite dips ever. Do you remember those hollowed out pumpernickel breads with the spinach dip inside? My mom used to make those for so many of our parties but there was a seasoning packet you added to fresh spinach- almost homemade. I like this one because everything is fresh and it’s super easy to do.

9. Halal Pepperoni Pizza Breads are an awesome alternative to ordering pizza out. Who knows what’s in the bread, the cheese and if anyone working with pork-based sausage and pepperoni gets on your pizza even though you’ve asked them to change their gloves and clean the knife used to cut your pizza? Just make these quick and easy individual pizza breads and you don’t have to worry about all that. Seriously, they’re so easy. Order the halal beef pepperoni now for game day (they also have turkey pepperoni).

10. Savory Party Snack Mix. What would game day be without a snack mix to chomp on throughout the plays? This is a really delicious and healthy mix I made recently and my family and friends could not get enough of it.

So those are my top 10 picks for this year’s Superbowl spread of halal grub. There are more ideas and a much longer list here from a previous post, and there are a LOT of great appetizer and drink recipes in my cookbook, Summer Ramadan Cooking, which you can order in three different versions: Paperback, Kindle and e-book.